We did it! After months of hard work and campaigning, last month’s local elections saw 22 Labour councillors elected to represent our constituency in Town Hall, with Labour holding 58 of 63 seats overall. Congratulations to our newly elected and re-elected Labour councillors for Brixton Acre Lane, Brixton Rush Common, Clapham Common & Abbeville, Clapham East, Clapham Park, Streatham Hill East, St Leonard’s, St Martin’s, Streatham Common & Vale and Streatham Wells. I look forwards to working with all of you to build a cleaner, greener, more equal borough.

As well as knocking on lots of doors in Streatham last month, I also partnered up with local baby bank Little Village to collect several van loads of pre-loved baby equipment to support families in our area. Thank you to everyone who donated and especially to our brilliant Streatham Labour volunteers who sorted, packed and delivered donations!

During the Easter Recess, I was glad to visit the USA where I met with American civil rights leaders, political activists, Democratic Party legislators and lawyers to discuss some of the similar challenges facing our two countries. As we confront the great evils of our time, from climate breakdown to racism, international cooperation and solidarity are more important than ever – as is unity among progressives.Parliament was back briefly in April, giving me the chance to hold the Tories’ feet to the fire about the damaging impact of Brexit on our small businesses and their failure to deliver on promised funding to increase dementia diagnosis rates. Sadly, this month also saw the passage of a brace of bad bills, with the Government getting Royal Assent on the Nationality and Borders Bill, the Judicial Review Bill, the Policing Bill, and the Elections Bill. I know from the floods of emails I received urging me to vote against these bills and strip out their most draconian provisions, that they don’t embody the values of people in Streatham. With more authoritarian legislation coming down the pipeline, we’ll be ready to stand up for civil liberties and the right to call for change.